Salon.com > Reproductive choicehttp://www.salon.com
Sun, 02 Aug 2015 21:00:00 +0000enhourly1Will new “abortion reversal” laws spread, despite “junk science” claims?http://www.salon.com/2015/06/10/will_new_abortion_reversal_laws_spread_despite_junk_science_claims/
http://www.salon.com/2015/06/10/will_new_abortion_reversal_laws_spread_despite_junk_science_claims/#commentsWed, 10 Jun 2015 19:34:00 +0000Mary Bethhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13988470"I just thought this was a way to give women who changed their mind a second chance," says Dr. George Delgado. But Delgado is speaking of a "second chance" for a procedure generally understood to be irreversible. Delgado claims he has a method that can help women halt the effects of a medically induced abortion.

In March, Arizona's Republican Governor Doug Ducey signed into law a requirement that doctors who perform drug-induced abortions must tell women that the procedure can be reversed — a claim that, as the New York Times reported then, "most doctors say is wrong." It takes effect July 3. Arkansas followed suit in April, based on guidelines written by Americans United for Life, that advise "that it may be possible to reverse the effects of the abortion should she change her mind, but that time is off the essence; and that information on and assistance with reversing the effects of abortion-inducing drugs is available in the state-prepared materials."

]]>http://www.salon.com/2015/06/10/will_new_abortion_reversal_laws_spread_despite_junk_science_claims/feed/6Secrets of the hate-pizza revolution: Indiana’s dreadful culture-war weekhttp://www.salon.com/2015/04/04/secrets_of_the_hate_pizza_revolution_indianas_dreadful_culture_war_week/
http://www.salon.com/2015/04/04/secrets_of_the_hate_pizza_revolution_indianas_dreadful_culture_war_week/#commentsSat, 04 Apr 2015 15:45:00 +0000Erin Keanehttp://www.salon.com/?p=13928040In Indiana this week, it was the worst of times and – no, wait; it was just the worst of times. This was the week of “hate pizza,” one of the weirdest and most revealing non-stories of recent American history, in which a small-town businesswoman’s ill-considered response to a reporter’s hypothetical question became headline news. It was also the week when a 33-year-old Indiana woman named Purvi Patel was sentenced to 20 years in prison for ending her own pregnancy, in the most dramatic application to date of a recent wave of anti-abortion “feticide” laws. Both these Hoosier news stories, with their misunderstood and/or persecuted female protagonists, represent new plot twists in the long-running culture war that underlies America’s political divisions. But one of them has ominous and far-reaching consequences, and it’s the other one that became a huge social-media phenomenon. I won’t even pretend to make you guess which is which.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2015/04/04/secrets_of_the_hate_pizza_revolution_indianas_dreadful_culture_war_week/feed/201Nicki Minaj’s radical vulnerabilityhttp://www.salon.com/2014/12/04/nicki_minajs_radical_vulnerability/
http://www.salon.com/2014/12/04/nicki_minajs_radical_vulnerability/#commentsThu, 04 Dec 2014 15:32:00 +0000Mary Bethhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13836443There are few things in this world more provocative than authentic vulnerability. So to close out a banner career year in which she pushed buttons, smashed the charts, took a brief detour into some very unfortunate Nazi imagery and helped usher in the greatest renaissance in the history of booty, Nicki Minaj has at last unleashed the tracklist for her new album "The Pinkprint" -- and a stripped-down song about family and loss – and what seems to be a reference to an adolescent abortion.

Opening track "All Things Go" is a radical departure from the album's earlier, bouncier tracks like "Anaconda." On it, Minaj speaks of her mother, Carol, and her teenage brother Micaiah (Caiah), rapping that "The more I work, the more I feel like somehow they're neglected. I want Caiah to go to college, just to say we did it." She mentions accepting a marriage proposal 10 years ago, and how "I lost my little cousin to a senseless act of violence." But in the most intimate verse, she describes how "My child with Aaron would have been 16 any minute, so in some ways I feel like Caiah is the both of them. It's like he's Caiah's little angel, looking over him."

]]>http://www.salon.com/2014/12/04/nicki_minajs_radical_vulnerability/feed/6Planned Parenthood president: “When politicians argue and shout about abortion, they’re talking about me”http://www.salon.com/2014/10/17/planned_parenthood_president_when_politicians_argue_and_shout_about_abortion_they%e2%80%99re_talking_about_me/
http://www.salon.com/2014/10/17/planned_parenthood_president_when_politicians_argue_and_shout_about_abortion_they%e2%80%99re_talking_about_me/#commentsFri, 17 Oct 2014 16:50:00 +0000Jenny Kutnerhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13798938Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards has long been a tireless advocate for reproductive justice and one of the most prominent faces of the pro-choice movement. Until recently, however, Richards was not one of the faces included on the growing list of women who have shared their abortion stories. Speaking out is an ongoing part of the movement's effort to reduce the stigma around abortion, a medical procedure so common, an estimated 1 in 3 women will have an abortion before the age of 45.

With those statistics in mind, it's not surprising that Richards is one of those 1 in 3. In a bold new essay for Elle, Richards speaks openly about her own abortion, and explains the need to reduce the shame, judgement and guilt directed at women who have had to take their reproductive decisions into their own hands -- like Richards, like myself, like millions of other women who feel forced into silence about their choice.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2014/10/17/planned_parenthood_president_when_politicians_argue_and_shout_about_abortion_they%e2%80%99re_talking_about_me/feed/2Anti-choice protesters are targeting high schools nowhttp://www.salon.com/2014/09/22/anti_choice_protestors_are_targeting_high_schools_now/
http://www.salon.com/2014/09/22/anti_choice_protestors_are_targeting_high_schools_now/#commentsMon, 22 Sep 2014 18:25:00 +0000Mary Bethhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13778208High school is bad enough without a bunch of antiabortion protesters standing outside, making it awkward. But here they come.

As NPR's WOSU reports Monday, an Ohio pro-life group called Created Equal has been demonstrating at Gahanna-Lincoln High School, holding up "large, graphic signs of fetuses" as students board school buses and cross the street. Group director Mark Harrington has vowed it will hold similar demonstrations across all Columbus-area school districts throughout the school year. "This is where students, young people, are going to decide if they’re going to be sexually active," he says. "They’re being taught about safe sex inside this school and many schools … They’re being taught about STDs. They need to be taught about abortion." What better way to teach than with bloody photographs? And you, random self-appointed stranger, are just the one to do it!

]]>http://www.salon.com/2014/09/22/anti_choice_protestors_are_targeting_high_schools_now/feed/29“I am not ashamed”: What the fight against abortion stigma looks likehttp://www.salon.com/2014/09/19/i%e2%80%99m_so_sick_of_keeping_these_words_contained_what_the_fight_against_abortion_stigma_looks_like/
http://www.salon.com/2014/09/19/i%e2%80%99m_so_sick_of_keeping_these_words_contained_what_the_fight_against_abortion_stigma_looks_like/#commentsFri, 19 Sep 2014 14:17:00 +0000Jenny Kutnerhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13776143One in three women will have an abortion before the age of 45. One in three women will also likely be shamed for her decision, called a murderer or told that her mother should have aborted her so that she couldn't have killed a baby (ironic logic, right? It's real). Plenty of women don't speak out because they don't want to face harassment -- a completely reasonable basis for staying quiet. Still, stigma should not be acceptable. The only way to overcome it is to say so -- and it helps if you can say so beautifully.

Leyla Josephine did. The Glasgow-based performance artist released a video of her spoken-word poem, "I Think She Was a She," which describes an abortion Josephine had as a teenager and her refusal to feel shame over her decision. "I am not ashamed. I am not ashamed," Josephine says. "I’m so sick of keeping these words contained. I am not ashamed."

]]>http://www.salon.com/2014/09/19/i%e2%80%99m_so_sick_of_keeping_these_words_contained_what_the_fight_against_abortion_stigma_looks_like/feed/2Wendy Davis’ choice: Why speaking out about abortion must remain a woman’s decisionhttp://www.salon.com/2014/09/08/wendy_daviss_choice_why_speaking_out_about_abortion_must_remain_a_womans_decision/
http://www.salon.com/2014/09/08/wendy_daviss_choice_why_speaking_out_about_abortion_must_remain_a_womans_decision/#commentsMon, 08 Sep 2014 16:18:00 +0000Jenny Kutnerhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13766463In her new memoir, “Forgetting to Be Afraid,” Texas state senator and gubernatorial candidate Wendy Davis reveals private information about her reproductive history, including two abortions she had. This is exactly what she should have done. Not because it might impact the polls heading into November’s election or because people like me will write rallying think pieces in support of her decision -- but because Davis decided that sharing her abortion stories was the right decision for her.

So it goes with most decisions related to abortion. Women must make the choices that are best for them and for their families. The same logic applies not just to the procedure, but to talking about it as well. But that crux of pro-choice activism seems to contradict another of the movement’s apparent bottom lines when it comes to speaking out. Pro-choice activists advocate for bringing reproductive decision-making out of the shadows, and for sharing abortion stories shamelessly and openly. It’s a simple act that has the potential to eliminate the stigma attached to abortion, and to allow women to exercise their reproductive freedom in a way that is truly free.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2014/09/08/wendy_daviss_choice_why_speaking_out_about_abortion_must_remain_a_womans_decision/feed/3Richard Dawkins: It would be “immoral” not to abort a fetus with Down syndromehttp://www.salon.com/2014/08/21/richard_dawkins_it_would_be_immoral_not_to_abort_a_fetus_with_down_syndrome/
http://www.salon.com/2014/08/21/richard_dawkins_it_would_be_immoral_not_to_abort_a_fetus_with_down_syndrome/#commentsThu, 21 Aug 2014 14:33:00 +0000Jenny Kutnerhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13753626Prominent evolutionary theorist Richard Dawkins seems to be confused about choices. The noted atheist drew ire on Wednesday after he announced that it would be "immoral" for a pregnant woman not to abort a fetus if she discovered that it had Down syndrome -- ignoring the fact that when women have the right to choose an abortion, they also have the right not to choose an abortion.

During a discussion with followers over the recent case of a suicidal woman in Ireland who was denied an abortion and forced to undergo a C-section at 25 weeks, Dawkins noted that "screening [for fetal abnormalities] offers a humane moral choice." But instead of leaving it at that, Dawkins also suggested that only one choice a woman could make in response to a Down syndrome diagnosis would be morally just:

@InYourFaceNYer Abort it and try again. It would be immoral to bring it into the world if you have the choice.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2014/08/21/richard_dawkins_it_would_be_immoral_not_to_abort_a_fetus_with_down_syndrome/feed/310Women who don’t use birth control explain why not, slut-shame those who dohttp://www.salon.com/2014/07/22/women_who_dont_use_birth_control_explain_why_not_slut_shame_those_who_do/
http://www.salon.com/2014/07/22/women_who_dont_use_birth_control_explain_why_not_slut_shame_those_who_do/#commentsTue, 22 Jul 2014 20:20:00 +0000Jenny Kutnerhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13731181In the aftermath of the Hobby Lobby ruling that will effectively allow corporations to prevent their female employees from accessing certain forms of contraception, BuzzFeed posted explanations from 22 of its own female employees about why they use birth control. The responses ranged from medical -- "for my endometriosis" -- to ethical -- "because it's none of your business" -- to practical -- "because condoms break sometimes." All were different, but each reflected some of the most common reasons that more than 99 percent of sexually active adult women use some form of contraception.

Well, the <1 percent of women who don't use birth control took it upon themselves to respond to BuzzFeed by explaining their own reproductive choices, listing the reasons they don't use birth control on the faith-centered blog Catholic Sistas (not a spelling error). But instead of simply offering up their "logical" (read: totally putative) justifications, the women also illustrated a general lack of understanding of how birth control works, as well as what it means not to try to "force others to follow what we believe" by sending preachy messages about the virtue of sexing to make babies.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2014/07/22/women_who_dont_use_birth_control_explain_why_not_slut_shame_those_who_do/feed/310How to get an abortion in Texashttp://www.salon.com/2014/07/17/how_to_get_an_abortion_in_texas/
http://www.salon.com/2014/07/17/how_to_get_an_abortion_in_texas/#commentsThu, 17 Jul 2014 16:24:00 +0000Jenny Kutnerhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13727664Come September, there will be six abortion clinics in Texas. Six clinics, intended to serve more than 13 million women across a state nearly 300,000 square miles in size, concentrated in five of the state's largest metropolitan areas and leaving virtually the entire western portion of Texas -- the Panhandle, the Rio Grande Valley -- without reproductive care. The clinics that remain open in September will be able to do so only because they meet the new standards outlined in H.B. 2, the extreme anti-choice legislation that Wendy Davis spent 11 hours filibustering last June, which mandates abortion providers meet the guidelines for ambulatory surgical centers. These standards can cost up to $40,000 a month to maintain, and have already forced clinics across the state to shut down. With abortion providers in the western part of the state shuttered, women who live in the region -- particularly the Valley -- are left without options.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2014/07/17/how_to_get_an_abortion_in_texas/feed/14Bizarre football stars’ PSA: Abortion is “evil”http://www.salon.com/2014/07/10/bizarre_football_stars_psa_abortion_is_evil/
http://www.salon.com/2014/07/10/bizarre_football_stars_psa_abortion_is_evil/#commentsThu, 10 Jul 2014 16:00:00 +0000Jenny Kutnerhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13722199In 1992, the Buffalo Bills and Washington Redskins faced off against one another in the 26th Super Bowl. But, the same year, members of both teams came together to discuss an important issue on which they felt the need to weigh in: abortion. The sports site SBNation recently unearthed the anti-choice PSA, which includes Hall of Fame coach Joe Gibbs along with several Bills and Redskins players explaining why not to make the "terrible, irreversible mistake of abortion." Among the reasons they include: "people are important because they are human beings" and "it's a once-in-a-lifetime decision for your baby."

]]>http://www.salon.com/2014/07/10/bizarre_football_stars_psa_abortion_is_evil/feed/26An abortion goes viralhttp://www.salon.com/2014/05/07/an_abortion_goes_viral/
http://www.salon.com/2014/05/07/an_abortion_goes_viral/#commentsWed, 07 May 2014 14:18:00 +0000Mary Bethhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13669427When Emily Letts got pregnant, she made the same decision that millions of other American women have made since Roe v. Wade granted them the right to do so over 40 years ago. She chose to have an abortion. But then she did something else. She filmed it. She shared it. She talked about it. Because she wasn't ashamed.

Earlier this year, "This Is My Story," the 25 year-old Cherry Hill Women's Center patient advocate's three-minute film of her experience, won the Judge's Choice award in the Abortion Care Network's Abortion Stigma Busting Video Competition. In the video, Letts, a wholesome-looking girl-next-door blonde, sits in her car, shakes her head and says, "I'm not ready to have children ... I'm lucky. I feel completely comfortable with the decision."

]]>http://www.salon.com/2014/05/07/an_abortion_goes_viral/feed/264Congratulations, Louisiana. You are the worst state in the country for reproductive freedomhttp://www.salon.com/2014/01/14/congratulations_louisiana_you_are_the_worst_state_in_the_country_for_reproductive_freedom/
http://www.salon.com/2014/01/14/congratulations_louisiana_you_are_the_worst_state_in_the_country_for_reproductive_freedom/#commentsTue, 14 Jan 2014 20:39:00 +0000kmcdonoughhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13577000Americans United for Life is the legal arm of the anti-choice movement and the group responsible for drafting the model abortion restrictions that states like Texas and North Dakota made infamous in 2013.

The organization released its "Life List" this week, celebrating the states that have done the most to "protect life in law," which is AUL's way of saying, "Here are the states that have done the most to erode women's constitutional rights and access to doctors and medical care. They did this by implementing legislation that we wrote for them."

Topping the list (for the fifth year in a row) is Louisiana, the state awarded the most "points" through the AUL's ranking system -- specific abortion restrictions get a state a certain number of points. The entire exercise is incredibly creepy and depressing, but definitely illuminating about the anti-choice movement's expansive strategy to criminalize abortion.

For example, cutting off state funding for Planned Parenthood gets a state one point; forced ultrasound laws are also worth one point. Requiring providers to meet the standards of an ambulatory surgical center gets a state a whopping five points. (You can read the rest here. As depressing as it is, it's actually a pretty comprehensive way to get acquainted with the kinds of restrictions that are advancing across the country.)

]]>http://www.salon.com/2014/01/14/congratulations_louisiana_you_are_the_worst_state_in_the_country_for_reproductive_freedom/feed/16Texas family describes “pure hell” of being forced to keep their loved one on life supporthttp://www.salon.com/2014/01/06/texas_family_describes_pure_hell_of_being_forced_to_keep_their_love_one_on_life_support/
http://www.salon.com/2014/01/06/texas_family_describes_pure_hell_of_being_forced_to_keep_their_love_one_on_life_support/#commentsMon, 06 Jan 2014 18:25:00 +0000kmcdonoughhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13570592Marlise Munoz’s heart hasn't beat on its own since she collapsed in November at home in Texas. A machine currently breathes for her, and her doctors have concluded that Munoz has no brain activity and no hope for recovery. Her husband and parents desperately want to honor her end-of-life directive and remove her from life support, but the state of Texas won't allow them to do it.

That's because Munoz was 14 weeks pregnant when she collapsed, and Texas law requires that she remain on life support to "sustain" the pregnancy -- regardless of her end-of-life directive, her family's wishes and the viability of the fetus.

As Andrea Grimes at RH Reality Check reports, the family has described the prolonged grief and heartache the law has caused them as "pure hell":

]]>http://www.salon.com/2014/01/06/texas_family_describes_pure_hell_of_being_forced_to_keep_their_love_one_on_life_support/feed/52Civil war in the church!: Catholics tell bishops to stop playing doctorhttp://www.salon.com/2013/12/05/civil_war_in_the_church_catholics_defy_bishops_on_hospitals/
http://www.salon.com/2013/12/05/civil_war_in_the_church_catholics_defy_bishops_on_hospitals/#commentsThu, 05 Dec 2013 12:45:00 +0000kmcdonoughhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13549117Pope Francis last week issued an expansive document outlining the mission behind his papacy, including a strongly worded indictment of free market economics and the government leaders and corporate executives who are the system's greatest beneficiaries. The pope's declarations on poverty and economic justice may have been a new turn for the church, but the rest of the 84-page document was a regurgitation of the same old doctrine.

Specifically, the church's hard line on abortion and other issues of reproductive justice remains as rigid and as dangerous as ever. Which is why the timing of the American Civil Liberty Union's lawsuit alleging gross medical negligence against the United States Congress of Catholic Bishops, filed just days after the pope released his "Evangelii Gaudium," felt significant. The suit was a necessary reminder that a church doctrine that refuses to respect women's bodily autonomy and the medical judgment of doctors -- no matter how progressive its economic agenda -- is still a dangerous thing. (Related: Economic justice and reproductive justice are not distinct agendas, but I digress.)

]]>http://www.salon.com/2013/12/05/civil_war_in_the_church_catholics_defy_bishops_on_hospitals/feed/254GOP plan to appeal to millennials: “Make abortion funny”http://www.salon.com/2013/06/17/gop_plan_to_appeal_to_millennials_make_abortion_funny/
http://www.salon.com/2013/06/17/gop_plan_to_appeal_to_millennials_make_abortion_funny/#commentsMon, 17 Jun 2013 15:28:00 +0000AlexSeitzWaldhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13327225"How do you make abortion funny?" That was a key question mulled at a major conservative gathering Friday on how to make social conservatism appealing to young people, after an election where Republicans got trounced in the battle for millennial voters (who are are moving even further and further away from the Christian-right on marriage and other issues).

Abortion has to be made funny, the thinking goes, because funny sells on social media, and that's where one goes to court young people. "You can engage with sarcasm, it's hard with the abortion issue, but you have to," said Students for Life president Kristan Hawkins at a breakout panel at the Faith and Freedom Coalition Conference in Washington today on how to win millennial voters. "Unfortunately we have to, because this is the generation that we've been dealt."

As the Republican Party tries to remake itself after the 2012 election to better appeal to young people and minorities, there's been a movement to jettison issues social conservatives hold dear, especially support for "traditional marriage." But the activists at Ralph Reed's confab said absolutely not. "You've got to be pro-life, you've got be pro-marriage, or else you're not going to get our money," Hawkins said firmly.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2013/06/17/gop_plan_to_appeal_to_millennials_make_abortion_funny/feed/208Popular birth control suspected in 23 deathshttp://www.salon.com/2013/06/11/popular_birth_control_suspected_in_23_deaths/
http://www.salon.com/2013/06/11/popular_birth_control_suspected_in_23_deaths/#commentsTue, 11 Jun 2013 20:21:00 +0000kmcdonoughhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13323466According to documents obtained by CBC News, at least 24 Canadian women have died as a result of what health authorities believe is an adverse reaction to popular birth control pills Yaz and Yasmin; a majority of these women died from blood clots, a common risk factor associated with drospirenone-based (a synthetic version of progesterone) contraceptives, as the Toronto Sun reports:

While blood clots are listed as a potential side-effect for all hormonal birth control, especially for smokers and older women, the fatalities for Yaz and Yasmin are particularly high. Similar searches for Alesse pills and the Nuvaring found four and two deaths, respectively.

What's more, eight of the Yasmin deaths were women and girls under 20, including two 14-year-olds.

This isn't the first time the brands have come under fire. A 2011 Health Canada review found they had three times the risk of blood clots compared with other oral contraceptives.

]]>http://www.salon.com/2013/06/11/popular_birth_control_suspected_in_23_deaths/feed/1North Dakota may not spend a dime defending unconstitutional abortion banhttp://www.salon.com/2013/03/28/north_dakota_may_not_spend_a_dime_defending_unconstitutional_abortion_ban/
http://www.salon.com/2013/03/28/north_dakota_may_not_spend_a_dime_defending_unconstitutional_abortion_ban/#commentsThu, 28 Mar 2013 17:34:00 +0000kmcdonoughhttp://www.salon.com/?p=13254784When Republican State Rep. Bette Grande responded to critics over the financial burden of defending North Dakota's unconstitutional ban on abortion at six weeks or earlier, the "fiscal conservative" explained that she “didn’t look at [the measure] from the financial side of things” but from the “life side of things.” Grande went on to say that “fears about a legal challenge” shouldn’t prevent other states from pushing forward with similar unconstitutional laws.

Unfortunately, she may be right.

According to a report from MSNBC, a non-profit conservative litigation group has offered to defend the state ban completely free of charge. Liberty Counsel chairman Mat Stavers extended his organization's pro-bono support through a public statement this week:

Cost should not be a part of Gov. Jack Dalrymple’s decision to sign or veto bills... Liberty Counsel will defend these laws pro bono. No rights are more fundamental than the right to life. Without life, all other rights are irrelevant.

Under the Arkansas Human Heartbeat Protection Act, doctors will lose their medical license if they perform an abortion on a woman who is more than 12 weeks pregnant. While the ban has nominal exceptions for rape, incest and the life of the mother, it remains the most extreme abortion law currently on the books.

Beebe vetoed the bill on Monday, arguing that it is "blatantly unconstitutional" and violates the fetal viability precedent set out by Roe v. Wade.

"In short, because it would impose a ban on a woman's right to choose an elective, nontherapeutic abortion well before viability, Senate Bill 134 blatantly contradicts the United States Constitution, as interpreted by the Supreme Court," Beebe said in his statement. The governor added that such a ban would prove "very costly to the taxpayers of our state," given that "lawsuits challenging unconstitutional laws also result in the losing party -- in this case, the state -- being ordered to pay the costs and attorneys' fees incurred by the litigants who successfully challenge the law. Those costs and fees can be significant."

]]>http://www.salon.com/2013/03/07/the_nations_most_extreme_abortion_law_and_the_man_behind_it/feed/15Indiana bill would require trans-vaginal ultrasounds for RU 486 Rxhttp://www.salon.com/2013/02/25/indiana_bill_would_require_trans_vaginal_ultrasounds_for_ru_486_rx/
http://www.salon.com/2013/02/25/indiana_bill_would_require_trans_vaginal_ultrasounds_for_ru_486_rx/#commentsMon, 25 Feb 2013 19:38:00 +0000kmcdonoughhttp://www.origin.railrode.net/?p=13211651RU 486 is a non-surgical early abortion medication that comes in the form of a pill and is generally used to end a pregnancy up to 10 weeks from a woman’s last period. So, naturally, a bill, approved by Indiana’s state Senate Health and Provider Services Committee on Wednesday, would require clinics to conduct trans-vaginal ultrasounds on women both before and after dispensing the pill. Senate Bill 371 passed by a vote of 7 to 5, and will next be voted on by the full state Senate. Specifically, the bill would require women to be presented with the sound and image of the fetal heartbeat before the abortion and to return for another ultrasound to ensure that she is no longer pregnant.

The bill makes no medical sense, whatsoever, and is a clear attempt to discourage women from taking RU 486, by adding two unnecessary trips to an abortion clinic and two unnecessary uncomfortable procedures to it. Dr. Anne Davis, the consulting medical director for Physicians for Reproductive Health, explained,